Intake Gasket Replacement

[Pinger]

I'll pull the oil from above beforehand then (and re-use - it's only done 1300 miles) and pull the drain plug to let any coolant out. I'll be dropping the coolant level beforehand anyway so shouldn't be too much sloshing around.
I can always go back in with the Pela and suck up what's lying on the floor of the oil pan.

 

[Pinger]

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A walk through.

 

[Pinger]

Some coolant will get into the oil regardless of how careful you are; it remains trapped in the intake and it's practically impossible to keep it from sloshing out as you lift it off the heads. Just plan on an oil change after the job. I would personally think it's better to leave the oil in place so that draining it afterwards can help carry any spilled coolant out with it,instead of hoping a small amount of coolant would drain on its own from a nearly-empty oil pan that the oil had been drained prior.

For reasons to laborious to mention, I am as per the bit above in bold.
As far as I saw, very little spillage of coolant - some small puddles in the valley. Is it worth pulling the oil pan drain plug for any coolant that might be there?
The oil that came (suctioned) out is going back in for 100-200 miles max then being replaced. Is it likely that there is enough coolant in the oil pan to contaminate this to any significant extent?

 

[Pinger]

Got to thank Ginger for this thread and the mods for making it a sticky. I've just finished doing mine and this thread was hugely helpful.

The only thing I'd add to Ginger's method is that when you remove the ground on the front of the block on the passenger side you are as well disconnect the CPS (and EVO if fitted) as that lets the cable all the way back out of the way.

I made a bracket/jig rather than rely on scribe marks for refitting the distributor without a scan tool (pic in the Custom Tools thread) and handles (from a weedwacker) to make handling the manifold easier.

I did a dry run (no gaskets or sealant) to see how easily I could drop the manifold in. This is going to vary person to person depending on upper body strength and reach. To get a cleaner run at it I also removed the alternator and its bracket and the fan. Extra work but for me sure beat worrying that I might have smeared the RTV sealant everywhere but where it needs to be.

It is quite an involved job (made worse if the EGR pipe puts up a fight - mine did) and took me much longer than expected - maybe I'm just a slow worker. Nonetheless I'd advise budgeting plenty of time and if you can then there's nothing stopping anyone vaguely competent from getting shot of those leaky old GM gaskets.

 

[mary7654]

Intake Manifold

I have this job of new intake manifold gasket. There is this thin metal in the valley of the engine that is held in place by three bolts. what is it and what happens when i loosen the three bolts.

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This project got to be to much for newbies. Sold the truck. Thanks for the replies